Related articles
One on OneChristopher Harwood – professor of Czech at Columbia University
Christopher Harwood is a lecturer in Czech at Columbia University in New
York. When I met him at his office on Columbia’s Upper West Side campus,
we discussed Czech literature, the difficulties of learning Czech, and how
Professor Harwood himself had become good enough at the language to teach
it at one of the world’s leading universities. More
PanoramaCzech expats from around the world come to Dobruška to connect with their heritage
Every summer the north-east Bohemian town of Dobruška turns truly
cosmopolitan, opening its doors to Czech language students from around the
world. The Czech language summer school organized by Charles University
lasts for a month and is specially tailored for Czech expats and people who
have developed an interest in the Czech language and culture.
More
Letter from PragueThe delicacies of you and You
English speaking foreigners to the Czech Republic who are interested in the
language are often befuddled or even annoyed by the feature of formal and
informal speech in Czech grammar, called vykání and tykání - that is,
the formal, plural “you” and the informal, singular “you”. Nowhere
is that characteristic more frowned upon than in multinational companies,
where new employees, called “formal you” at the job interview, are
renamed “demotic you” on their first day of work, and told to address
everyone else accordingly. More
SpotlightSummer Czech language courses in Dobruška
For many Czechs, the eastern Bohemian town of Dobruška evokes the Czech
National Revival, a time when the Czech language was on the verge of
extinction. A local merchant, immortalized in the novel F.L.Vek by the
Czech writer Alois Jirásek, worked tirelessly in and around Dobruška to
promote the Czech language and literature. Today, a different kind of Czech
revival is taking place in the town. For the last 20 years, Prague’s
Charles University has been organizing summer language courses for expats
at this particular venue.
More
One on OneProfessor Lubomír Doležel – now retired doyen of Czech Studies in Toronto
Professor Lubomír Doležel, who was born in the Moravian village of
Lesnice in 1922, is an internationally respected academic best known for
his pioneering work in literary theory and linguistics. After three years
at the University of Michigan in the second half of the 1960s, he was
invited to the University of Toronto, where he established the study of
Czech language and literature. On Friday Professor Doležel received the
Czech Foreign Ministry’s Gratias Agit prize for promoting the good name
of his native country.
More
SpecialSome highlights of our Czechs in New York series
Earlier this year I flew to New York to record a series of special reports
about Czechs in the city, visiting several important Czech institutions
and
speaking to dozens of interesting individuals. This special programme
revisits some of those places and people. More
ArtsPetr Kotík – Part 2
The minimalist composer and conductor Petr Kotík has led the S.E.M
Ensemble since soon after he arrived in the United States at the very end
of the 1960s. In this, the second of two editions of the Arts dedicated to
the Prague-born musician, he explains why he considers his hometown a
musical “garbage heap” and lauds Ostrava, the city where he established
an institute and festival dedicated to new music.
More
ArtsPetr Kotík – Part 1
Petr Kotík is a Prague-born composer and conductor based in New York. He
is the founder and artistic director of the S.E.M. Ensemble, a group that
performs modern classical music, both by Kotík himself and others
including John Cage and La Monte Young. In 1999 he established the Ostrava
Centre for New Music, which runs the biennial Ostrava Days institute and
festival in the north Moravian city.
More
One on OneChristopher Harwood – professor of Czech at Columbia University
Christopher Harwood is a lecturer in Czech at Columbia University in New
York. When I met him at his office on Columbia’s Upper West Side campus,
we discussed Czech literature, the difficulties of learning Czech, and how
Professor Harwood himself had become good enough at the language to teach
it at one of the world’s leading universities. More
+1
